The Government's record on expanding the prison system has been criticised in a new report which has revealed poor long-term planning, cost overruns and a large number of prison design and construction defects.
While the authors of the report also reached positive conclusions on the construction of new prisons and the refurbishment and renovation of others, they have made a series of recommendations aimed at better long-term planning.
The report has proposed that new facilities be developed based on 15-year estate management planning and projections of the prison population over the same period, rather than the more ad-hoc planning currently in place.
It points out that no document has been drawn up, either by the prison service or Department of Justice, setting out the long-term development plans for the prison system.
It has also called for much more detailed prior appraisal of prison developments and post-construction reviews.
The review was carried out by Fitzpatrick Associates Economic Consultants with the assistance of independent UK prisons consultant Jerry Chamberlain. It was commissioned last June by the prison service as part of an expenditure review initiative by the Department of Finance. It reviewed all capital projects valued at more than €5 million and completed since the beginning of 2000.
Overall, it describes many of the prison construction projects as innovative, modern and comparing well with international best practice. However, it was also critical of individual projects.
It concludes that "only six years after being built", Cloverhill Prison in Dublin, the only remand jail in the State, is already at capacity. It also points out that Limerick Prison has seen recent investment in women's facilities, which are now to be replaced by new facilities for females at Spike Island Prison, Cork. A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service said the report would inform future decision-making. He added that many of the recommendations were already in operation on the Thornton Hall project.
Commenting on the record of the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition since it came into office 10 years ago, the review notes: "Objectives set in 1997 for the provision of an additional 200 spaces at Cork Prison, the development of a new juvenile facility in Dublin and the development of a new 240-space adult prison in Dublin were all short-lived goals that were never subsequently delivered."
It also notes that the government's failure to decide 10 years ago to replace Dublin's Mountjoy Prison resulted in significant investment in the men's prison, the women's Dóchas Centre and St Patrick's Institution, all of which are due for demolition under plans to relocate to Thornton Hall.